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Voyage of the Damned (TV story)
Voyage of the Damned 'is the 2007 Christmas Special of ''Doctor Who. It was written by Russell T. Davies, directed by James Strong and featured David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Kylie Minogue as Astrid Peth. Overview To be added Synopsis A space vessel, appearing as a replica of the Earth ship, ''Titanic'', collides with the TARDIS, so the Doctor decides to join the Christmas festivities on board. However, the holidays are cut short when the ship is deliberately sabotaged and comes under serious damage from a meteor strike, killing most aboard. The Doctor, along with Astrid Peth and a few other passengers are guided by the last surviving crew member through the workings of the ship before it's engines fail and the entire craft plummets to and destroys the Earth below, while the mechanical angelic hosts, who have been programmed by a mysterious benefactor, seek to assassinate them... Plot Moments after Martha's departure from his company, the Doctor is thrown to the floor by the spontaneous crashing of the ship R.M.S. Titanic smashing through the wall of his TARDIS. Pushing the ship back through the wall and sealing the damage up after it, the Doctor lands aboard the craft. Stepping out, he wanders in on a large, extravagant Christmas-themed party with various humanoid and alien guests. Looking out of a viewing port, the Doctor discovers the ship isn't a boat but a starship orbiting the Earth during the Christmas period. On the bridge, the Captain, Hardaker, tells his crew that they can take a temporary leave to get a drink for Christmas and dismisses them. However, Midshipman Alonso Frame remains on the bridge to staff it with him as per protocol. Having returned to the TARDIS and changed into a tuxedo, the Doctor blends in with the partygoers, asking the robotic angel hosts where the ship is from; it responds that it started it's voyage from the planet Sto so it's passengers could experience new cultures. The robot suddenly malfunctions and is dragged below decks by the Chief Steward. He orders the engineers that if all the broken robots can't be fixed, they should be dumped overboard and they seem to hear him. In the reception, the Doctor meets and strikes a friendship with one of the waitresses, Astrid Peth, who tells him that she always dreamt of life beyond her sky. He discreetly tells her that he's a stowaway, but instead of reporting him, she goes to find him a drink. Afterward, the Doctor interacts with a pair of passengers, Morvin and Foon Van Hoff, who are being bullied by another table for their attire. He gains their appreciation and amusement by using his sonic screwdriver to burst the cork of their wine and soak them. A summons suddenly calls for those with cards reading Red 6-7 to go to the planet's surface. On the bridge, Midshipman Frame registers a power flare on deck 15 before the scanners start detecting a number of incoming meteors. The Van Hoffs join the others holding Red 6-7 cards and the Doctor, offering Astrid a treat, feigns holdership of one with his psychic paper. He gets concerned when a red, spiny alien named Bannakaffalatta joins the surface party but when they are beamed down, the streets are deserted. While Astrid is wonderstruck by being on a different planet, the Doctor asks a man at a newspaper stall where everybody went. He explains that everybody other than himself and the Queen fled the city for fear of another alien offensive in London over Christmas like the previous two. Before he can ask further, he is cut short by the party being teleported back aboard prematurely; Astrid thanks him for his kindness. On the bridge, Hardaker starts turning the ship side-on to face the incoming meteors and starts drawing them towards it. At the same time, the Doctor becomes aware of the meteors and hacks the mainframe to learn about the disabled shields; he contacts the bridge and tells them about the shields but is arrested by the steward. When Frame goes to reset the shields, Hardaker holds him at gunpoint; he nonetheless goes for the control and gets shot in the abdomen. The Doctor causes a commotion to try and get people to leave but only alerts a few people follow him as he's taken away by the Steward. Hardaker explains his approaching death six months from now and reveals that he was promised money sent to his family if he sabotaged the ship. Meanwhile, passenger Rickston Slade sees a rocket fly through the window and gets told by a host that they're all going to die. He chases after the Steward, still dragging the Doctor away and tells him about the shields. There is no time to act, however, as the meteors smash into and demolish the entire portside face of the ship, killing Hardaker and hundreds of people. The ship is rocked sending all the survivors flying; when the craft settles, the Doctor, Astrid, the Van Hoffs, Bannakaffalatta, Slade, interplanetary guide Mr. Copper and the Chief Steward at still alive while the other steward is killed. The Chief Steward goes to get help but the passage behind the door was destroyed in the impact and he is sucked into space. The Doctor manages to restore the air shell but spots the TARDIS drifting away to the planet below, having been set loose in the crash. On deck 15, the engineer is pinned down by excess rubble and the active hosts, instead of helping him, remove their halos and thrust them at him, killing him. The Doctor contacts Frame on the bridge for assistance and promises to get there to help when he informs him that the engines are shutting down; given the type of engine, if the ship crashes the shockwave would eradicate all life on the Earth below. The other survivors start panicking but the Doctor takes charge and convinces them that he'll get them out alive. The party starts moving towards the bridge, climbing a collapsed set of stairs; discovering a disabled host, Foon and Morvin offer to try and fix it so it can help them. While they work, Foon reveals that the tickets they won in the contest cost just as high a price on the phone bill as if she'd paid for them, but Morvin finds it hilarious instead of being mad. At the top, Astrid and Bannakaffalatta start shifting the rubble blocking it, while Bannakaffalatta reveals his true cyborg nature to Astrid (strangely, getting engaged to her at the same time). Kitchen 5 reports to the bridge when the hosts appear in the kitchen and slaughter them all. Frame, who had heard everything, contacts the Doctor and tells them the hosts are dangerous, just as Morvin fixes the one at the bottom of the stairs. The robot deadlocks it's hands around his neck but the Doctor frees him and ushers them both upstairs, barely managing to get them through the half-cleared gap at the top before they're caught. Before he follows, the Doctor gets from the host that it's commands come from deck 31. The host's head is then crushed beneath falling rubble. Meanwhile, Frame is forced to deadlock the bridge to protect himself from advancing hosts, keeping the Doctor from getting there. Below, the Doctor offers Astrid the chance to travel with him if they get out alive and Copper reveals that his credentials are fraudulent, having wasted his life on Sto as a travelling salesman; the Doctor and Astrid promise to keep his secret. The hosts suddenly find them and they run into the engine chamber, which is exposed beneath them and the only exit is bridged by a thin, fragile track of twisted metal. While deciding who has to go over first, Morvin falls against a broken safety bar and falls into the engine to his death. Foon is devastated and the Doctor apologises for not being able to save him; while he comforts her, Rickston makes it across the gap and the others soon follow him. Knowing they need him to get out, the Doctor leaves Foon, promising to return to help the others cross. The host stop banging on the door and fly in from overhead, attacking them from the air; while they are able to defend themselves for a while, they soon start to tire. To save Astrid, Bannakaffalatta uses all his power and disables the host with an electromagnetic pulse but dies in the process. While Astrid mourns him, Copper removes the EMP transmitter from his chest and comforts her that Bannakaffalatta's sacrifice may have saved them all. However, one remaining host rises up and the Doctor manages to bluff some information out of it with Emergency Protocol One. He learns the host were programmed to crash the ship and leave no survivors, destroying the Earth as part of a plan. The host then reveals he was only allowed three questions and raises it's arm to strike when Foon comes up behind it, throws a lasso around it and throws herself into the engine, dragging the host with it. Upset at yet another person he failed to save, the Doctor sends Slade, Copper and Astrid, armed with his sonic screwdriver and the EMP transmitter, to find a way to send a S.O.S. while he goes to investigate deck 31. Before he leaves, Astrid kisses him and they part ways. On the way to deck 31, the Doctor encounters host and gets them to escort him there. Making it back to Reception, Astrid, Copper and Slade start working on the mayday while Astrid contacts the bridge and requests a portion of power be redistributed to the teleport, enough to get to the deck 31 to help the Doctor. Despite reservations, Frame complies and Astrid departs. On deck 31, the host bring the Doctor to their controller, the remaining vestige of company owner Max Capricorn, his head contained in a large, elaborate life-support system. He reveals to the Doctor that he was voted out of his company by his board and so, for revenge, planned to frame them for mass murder by destroying the Earth with the crashing ship while he remained safe inside an impact chamber, waiting to be pulled from the wreckage with enough compensation funds from his shareholders to buy his retirement. The Doctor is disgusted by his callous motivations and, out of spite, Capricorn disables the engines from his life-support unit. As the ship starts to fall, Capricorn has the Doctor retrained and executed. Before they can strike, Astrid appears in a fork-lift trick and picks up Capricorn's unit and drives it over the edge and into the engines, taking herself with it. As the ship crashes around him, with Capricorn dead, the Doctor takes control of the hosts and uses them to lift him to the bridge, smashing their way through the deadlock. As the ship starts dipping down towards Buckingham Palace, the Doctor calls ahead to evacuate the building before using the heat of the Titanic's re-entry into the atmosphere to reignite the engine and fly over the palace before it hits. As it makes it's way back into orbit, the Doctor remembers Astrid was wearing a teleport bracelet when she fell into the engines and rushes back to reception, attempting to use the equipment to reconstitute her molecules. However, Copper mournfully tells him that there is too much damage to the system for it to work, leaving her only partially restored. Giving what remains of her another kiss, the Doctor unseals a port and lets her remaining molecules fly off into space to travel forever. Later, the ship sends out an S.O.S. and a ship from Sto is deployed to rescue the survivors. Slade thanks the Doctor for saving him, but immediately loses his favour by reveling in the fact that the disaster has only made him richer. Remembering Copper's fraud and inevitable prison sentence, the Doctor uses the remaining power in the teleport bracelets to send him and himself down to the Earth, saying farewell to Frame as they depart. On the surface on the outskirts of London, the Doctor finds the TARDIS in the middle of a snowing field, though Copper reveals the snow was just disintegrated ballast from the Titanic. Before leaving, Copper reveals to the Doctor that, not knowing the planet's exchange rates, stacked £1,000,000 on his credit card and is stunned and elated to learn that that amount of funds is equivalent to fifty-billion credits on Sto, more than enough to give Copper a new life. As Copper prances off merrily, he and the Doctor look up to watch Astrid's starlight fly overhead and disappear into the stars. Bidding Copper a merry Christmas, the Doctor gets inside the TARDIS and disappears. Cast * The Doctor - David Tennant * Astrid Peth - Kylie Minogue * Captain Hardaker - Geoffrey Palmer * Midshipman Frame - Russell Tovey * Max Capricorn - George Costigan * Rickston Slade - Gray O'Brien * Chief Steward - Andrew Havill * Engineer - Bruce Lawrence * Foon Van Hoff - Debbie Chazen * Morvin Van Hoff - Clive Rowe * Mr Copper - Clive Swift * Bannakaffalatta - Jimmy Vee * Wilfred Mott - Bernard Cribbins * Himself - Nicholas Witchell * The Host - Paul Kasey * Kitchen Hand - Stefan Davis * Newsreader - Jason Mohammad * Alien Voices - Colin McFarlane, Ewan Bailey * Voice of The Queen - Jessica Martin Crew To be added References To be added Story Notes To be added Continuity To be added Home video and audio releases To be added External Links * Official ''Voyage of the Damned'' page on '''Doctor Who Website